Sanatoriums and a grand hotel

Thursday

Jul 12, 2007 at 12:01 AM

Early in Rutland's history, the town earned the reputation for having pure air with healing properties. A British surgeon and prisoner of war, Dr. William Goldson, appears to have been the first patient sent to Rutland to recover his health under doctor's orders.

After the tuberculosis germ was discovered in the 1880s, the first state-owned sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis opened on Central Tree Road. Several Rutland homes were converted to private sanitoriums to serve patients on the State San wait list, including Wachusett Cottage and the Jewish Sanitorium.

By the 1920s, Rutland had more institutions for the treatment of tuberculosis than any other town in the U.S.

The Bartlett Hotel was not a sanitorium, but a grand hotel of 100 guestrooms. A tobogganing slide stretched from the back of the hotel to what is today Memorial Field. The hotel was built in 1883 by Charles Bartlett on the site of an old tavern, and originally called the Muschopauge House. But it soon changed its name to Bartlett Hotel to avoid confusion with the Muschopauge railroad station, the State San stop.

The town purchased the property in 1929. Bartlett's son designed the present Community Hall on the site of the hotel.